LETTER

OF

JAMES

AMES, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the Twelve Tribes that are of the Dispersion: Joy to you.

ESTEEM it all joy, my brethren, when ye meet with manifold trials; since ye know that the testing of your faith worketh out constancy. And let constancy have complete work, so that ye may be complete and entire, coming short in nothing.

b

But if any one of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask it from God, who giveth liberally to all, and reproacheth not; and it will be given to him. But let him ask with faith, without the least hesitation; for he that hesitateth is like a surge of the sea, wind-driven and storm-tossed: for let not that man think that he shall obtain anything from the Lord, since he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Let the lowly brother glory in his uplifting, and the rich one in his humbling, because he will pass away like the flower of an herb. For the sun cometh up with a scorching heat, and drieth up the herb, and the flower thereof falleth off, and the beauty of its appearance perisheth: even so will the rich man be blighted in his schemes.

(i. 1-11.)

Gr., Jacobus, or, Jacob.

C

Or, argueth, or, doubteth.

b Or, arguing, or, doubting.
d Gr., goings.

Blessed is the man who endureth trial: because, when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to those who love him. Let no one say, when he is being tempted, "I am tempted from God;" for God is not tempted by evil things, and he himself tempteth no one. But each man is tempted by his own undue desire, being drawn away and enticed by it. Then this desire, having conceived, giveth birth to sin; and the sin, when matured, bringeth forth death. Be not deceived, my beloved brethren.

EVERY good gift and every perfect bounty is from above, and cometh down from the Father of the stars, with whom there is not the least variation, or shade of change. Moved by his own purpose, he gave us birth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruit of his creatures. Know this, my beloved brethren.

с

But let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for man's anger doth not work out God's righteousness. Wherefore, putting away all impurity and overflow of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which hath power to save your souls. And become doers of the Word, and not hearers merely, deluding yourselves. Because, if any one is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he hath observed himself, and gone away, and presently forgotten what kind of man he was. But he that hath looked carefully for a perfect law the law of liberty, and continued to do so, being not a forgetful hearer but a practical doer, this man shall be blessed in his doing.

d

e

If any one thinketh that he is religious, while he doth not control his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, that man's religion is worthless. Pure and stainless religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction, and that one keep himself spotless from the world.

My brethren, do ye, while ye make distinction of persons, hold the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in honor? For if there cometh into your assembly a man with gold rings, in gorgeous apparel, and there cometh in also a poor man in soiled clothing, and ye have regard to him that weareth the gorgeous apparel, and say, "Sit thou here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "Stand thou there, or sit at my footstool," do ye not make distinctions within yourselves, and become discriminators for bad reasons?

Listen, my beloved brethren: hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to those who love him? But ye have slighted the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and is it not they who drag you to the tribunals? Is it not they who revile the honorable Name by which ye are called? However, if ye fulfil the royal law according to the Writing, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," ye do well; but if ye make distinction of persons, ye commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, but shall fail in a single thing, he becometh liable for all. For the law that saith, "Do not commit adultery," also saith, "Do not commit murder." Now if thou dost not commit adultery, but dost commit murder, thou hast become a transgressor of law. So speak ye and so act, as those who are to be judged by a law of liberty. For judgment is pitiless to him who hath not shown pity: mercy boasteth itself over judgment.

WHAT benefit is there, my brethren, if one say that he hath faith, but he hath not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister be destitute, and in want of daily food, and one of you say to them, "Go in peace, warm yourselves and fill yourselves," but doth not give to them the necessaries of life, of what benefit is it? Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead in itself. But some one will say, "Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works." Dost

(ii. 1-19.)

"Gr., dishonored.

thou believe that God is One? thou doest well: the demons also believe this, and shudder. But art thou willing to know, O senseless a man, that the faith that is apart from works is worthless? b Was not Abraham our father made righteous by works, in having offered up his son Isaac upon the altar? Thou seest that faith wrought together with his works, and through the works his faith. was made complete; and the Writing was fulfilled that said, "And Abraham had faith in God, and it was accounted to him as toward righteousness;" and he was called, "God's friend." Ye see that through works a man is made righteous, and not by d faith alone. And in like manner was not Rahab the harlot made righteous through works, in having entertained the spies,' and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from its works is dead.

Do not many of you become teachers, my brethren; for we know that we shall receive severer judgment. For in many things we every one of us commit faults. If any one commit no fault in speech, the same is a complete man, able to control even the whole body. Now if we put the bits into the mouths of the horses, so that they may obey us, we indeed turn about their entire body. Observe also the ships, though they are so great, and are driven by violent winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, whither the impulse of the helmsman willeth. So also the tongue is a little member, but boasteth great things. Observe how small a fire inflameth how great a quantity of wood! And the tongue is a fire! As a world of iniquity the tongue is placed among our members; for it contaminateth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of life, and is set on fire by hell. For every kind of wild beasts, and of birds, of reptiles, and of things in the sea, is tamed and hath been tamed by human skill; but the tongue no man hath power to tame